Pharmacy benefits management method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A pharmacy benefits management system and method. A processor server has claim information relating to pharmacy benefits claims, and information relating to a claims processing formularly stored therein. A provider server has pharmacy benefits plan structure information stored therein. A management server has price information relating drugs in various classes and a processing module for correlating the claim information with the benefits plan structure information and the formularly information to identify drugs dispensed to patients, expenses associated with the drugs in accordance with the pharmacy benefits plan structure information, alternative drugs in the same class as the drugs and expenses associated with the alternative drugs.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

This application claims benefit of United States provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 60/190,556 filed on Mar. 20, 2000, the disclosureof which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to pharmacy benefits and more particularly to asystem and method for managing pharmacy benefits to permit costs to bereduced.

2. Description of the Related Art:

Health care costs in the United States have risen dramatically over thepast several decades. In 1999, health care spending accounted for 13percent of the GDP. In the United States, most health care is deliveredthrough employer sponsored health care plans, such as Health MaintainingOrganizations (HMOs). The basic premise of an HMO is to permit thehealth care benefit delivered to patients, i.e. recipients, to be“managed” in order to reduce costs.

Prescription drugs are marketed and delivered in a unique manner withrespect to other health care benefits. Accordingly, management, and thuscost reduction, of prescription drug benefits has historically beenapproached differently. Typically, Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) havebeen used to process claims for prescription drug benefits and attemptto control costs. PBMs ordinarily are entities that are independent ofthe benefit provider, e.g. an insurance company, and contract with thebenefit provider to process claims for pharmacy benefits.

However, costs for prescription drugs have grown faster than any otherexpenditure for health care costs in recent years. In 1999 alone,spending for prescription drugs in the United States rose nearly 17percent to $100,000,000,000.00 and is projected to continue to increasefaster than any other category of health care costs over the nextdecade. Currently, expenditures for prescription drugs account for over20 percent of the budget for many health care plans. It is clear thatthe use of PBMs, and other efforts to reduce health care spending havenot been effective in reducing expenditures for prescription drugbenefits.

PBMs ordinarily develop “formularies”, i.e. a lists of drugs in specificclasses that will be given favorable treatment. For example, theformulary may specify only a single particular drug in a class of drugswhich can be prescribed under a particular pharmacy benefit plan or mayclassify tiers of drugs in order of preference. In some cases, theformulary directs the patient to the lowest cost drug. However, PBMsoften operate under agreements with prescription drug manufacturerswhich include complex rebate plans. Accordingly, it is not always clearif the formulary will result in delivery of the appropriate prescriptiondrug that is truly lowest in cost to the patient, through deductiblesand copayments, and to the prescription drug benefit provider, such asan HMO.

Further, the distribution channels for prescription drugs in most casesare totally separated from the payment channels. For example, a patientmay be diagnosed by a physician as having a condition that requiresmedication. The Physician then decides on a class of drugs appropriatefor treatment of the diagnosed condition and prepares a prescription forone of plural drugs in that class. The patient then takes theprescription to a pharmacy for dispensing of the prescription drugs. Ifthe patient has a prescription drug benefit, e.g. through healthinsurance coverage, the pharmacist will utilize the PBMs computer systemto apply the formulary associated with that patient's benefit plan,dispense the prescribed drug, collect any deductible payment orcopayment from the patient in accordance with the formulary and benefitsstructure of the applicable plan, and submit claims documentation to theclaims processor, such as a PBM, to collect the remaining cost for thedispensed drugs.

Significantly, the patient and doctor ordinarily are not aware of thecosts of the dispensed drugs and costs of alternatives thereto before,during, or after dispensing of the drugs. Further, the provider of thedrug benefit, such as an employer or HMO are not aware of thisinformation at the point of purchase either. Accordingly, prescriptiondrugs are dispensed without consideration for direct costs. The choiceamongst alternatives is made solely by the physician without knowledgeof any cost effects for the patient of the benefits provider. Often thecreator of the formulary has direct economic interests that may not allywith those of the patient and benefit provider. The PBM or other entityprocessing pharmacy benefit claims has cost information and otherrelevant information. However, this information often is used primarilyto drive markets to profitable products and is often obfuscated bycomplex rebate algorithms. Such information is not available to thepatient or their physician at the time of making drug therapy decisions.Therefore, costs are not always minimized for drug benefits and thus thedrug benefits are not managed well.

Recent advances in communication, the Internet in particular, havefacilitated on-line distribution of various information. In fact, someof the pharmacy information described above has been exchanged over theInternet. The Internet is a worldwide network of computers linkedtogether by various hardware communication links all running a standardsuite of protocols known as TCP/IP (transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol). The growth of the Internet over the lastseveral years has been explosive, fueled in the most part by thewidespread use of software viewers known as browsers and HTTP (hypertexttransfer protocol) which allow a simple GUI (graphical user interface)to communicate over the Internet. Browsers generally reside on thecomputer used to access the Internet, i.e. the client computer. HTTP isa component of TCP/IP and provides users access to files of variousformats using a standard page description language known as HTML(hypertext markup language), and more recently XHTML (extensiblehypertext markup language). The collection of servers on the Internetusing HTTP has become known as the “World Wide Web” or simply the “Web.”

Through HTML, and interactive programming protocols, the author of aparticular Web page(s) is able to make information available to viewersof the Web page(s) by placing the Web page(s) on an Internet Web serverin HTML format. The network path to the server is identified by a URL(Uniform Resource Locator) and, generally, any client running a Webbrowser can access the Web pages by the URL.

The Web has become ubiquitous in businesses and homes because it hasproven to be convenient for various applications, such as news and datadelivery, conducting banking and investment transactions, and the like.The Web and its authoring, transmission, and display protocols, such asbrowsers, HTML, CGI (common gateway interface), Active Server Pages™,and Java™, have become a worldwide standard for information exchange.However, in view of the market considerations discussed above, and otherfactors, the Web has not been harnessed as an effective tool in managingpharmacy benefits.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is clear that there is a need for providing access to pharmacy costand clinical information to patients and their physicians to permitpatients and physicians to become active participants in drug therapydecisions with cost factors being considered.

A first aspect of the invention is a pharmacy benefits management systemand method. A processor server has claim information relating topharmacy benefits claims, and information relating to a claimsprocessing formulary stored therein. A provider server has pharmacybenefits plan structure information stored therein. A management serverhas price information relating drugs in various classes and a processingmodule for correlating the claim information with the benefits planstructure information and the formulary information to identify drugsdispensed to patients, expenses associated with the drugs in accordancewith the pharmacy benefits plan structure information, alternative drugsin the same class as the drugs and expenses associated with thealternative drugs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will be described through a preferred embodiment and theattached Drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the computer architecture of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the function of the recipient module of thepreferred embodiment:

FIG. 3 is a first registration screen of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a second registration screen of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a third registration screen of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a fourth registration screen of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a recipient benefits summary screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 8. Is a detailed recipient benefits screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 9 is a recipient alternative search screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 10 a is a recipient alternative results screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 10 b is another example of a recipient alternative results screenof the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a recipient pharmacy benefits audit screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 12 is a plan sponsor selection screen of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 13 is sponsor drug utilization screen of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 14 is sponsor drug class usage report screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 15 is sponsor alternative results screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 16 is a provider search filter screen of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a provider search results screen of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a provider individual benefits report screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 19 is a provider prescription detail screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 20 is a provider drug utilization report screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 21 is a consultant plan alternatives screen of the preferredembodiment;

FIG. 22 is an example of a formulary for specific drug classes of thepreferred embodiment; and

FIG. 23 is an example of a benefits structure of the preferredembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates pharmacy benefits management system 100of the preferred embodiment. Management server 110 is a general purposecomputer running an operating system and Web server software such asthat distributed under the trade name APACHE™. In the preferredembodiment, management server 110 includes recipient module 114, sponsormodule 116, provider module 118, and consultant module 190 as softwaremodules constituting a processor module containing the processing logicand database capability for effecting the pharmacy benefits managementfunctions described herein. The software modules are designated byfunction for the purpose of descriptive clarity herein. However, themodules need not be separate files or even separate blocks of code butcan take any form of hardware and/or software for accomplishing thefunctionality described below. Management server 110 can also includeretail cost information 112 stored therein which includes the retailcosts of various drugs.

PBM server 120 is associated with a pharmacy claims processor andincludes formulary information 122 specifying particular preferences ofdrugs in various drug classes. An example of formulary information 122is illustrated in FIG. 22. The formulary of FIG. 22 is for a class ofdrugs know as Antihypertensives, including the subclasses ACE Inhibitorsand Adrenic Antagonists and lists Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 drugs ineach class. PBM server 120 can be a general purpose computer and iscoupled to management server 110 through communications channel 128. PBMserver 120 also includes benefit information 124 relating to pharmacybenefits provided to recipients, such as the type of drug dispensed, thecopayment for the drug, the total cost of the drug, the identity of thepharmacy dispensing the drug, the identity of the doctor dispensing thedrug, and the like.

Provider server 130 is associated with a pharmacy benefits provider suchas an insurance company, HMO, self insured employer, or the like.Provider server 130 can be a general purpose computer and is coupled tomanagement server 110 through communications channel 138. Further,provider server 130 includes benefits structure information 134indicating the pharmacy benefits provided to each recipient of thevarious benefits plans administered by the benefits provider. Forexample, benefits structure information 134 can include the deductiblefor pharmacy benefits to be paid by recipient prior to receivingpharmacy benefits, and the copayment for each tier of drugs to be paidby recipient. An example of benefits structure information 132 isillustrated in FIG. 23 and indicates the plan copayment for each tier ofdrugs in the formulary. Such a variable copayment format is referred toas a “multi-tier” plan herein.

Additionally, recipient client 140 and sponsor client 150 can beassociated with a pharmacy benefit recipient (e.g. a patient, head ofhousehold, or other designee) and a plan sponsor (e.g. an employer)respectively and can be coupled to management server 110 throughcommunication channels 148 and 158 respectively. Recipient client 140and sponsor client 150 can each be a general purpose computer runningstandard client software, such as Internet browser software.

The primary functionality of recipient module 114 will be describedbelow with reference to FIG. 2. When a pharmacy benefits recipient logsonto management server 110 through recipient client 140, recipient canaccess a wealth of information processed by management server 110. Ofcourse access to information is restricted to the proper entities basedon secure log in procedures and access privileges.

When using system 100 for the first time, recipient, i.e. the patientreceiving a pharmacy benefit or their designee such as a parent or otherguardian, accesses management server 110 through recipient client 140and communication channel 148. Communication channel 148 can be an HTTPcompliant channel, such as the Internet (including a dial up or otherconnection through an Internet service provider) or any other type ofcommunication channel, such as an intranet, local are network, wide arenetwork, or the like. Once establishing a connection between recipientclient 140 and management server 110, it is determined whether recipientis registered for access to management server 110 in step 200. Thisdetermination can be made using conventional means, such as having theuser select a “register” button or a “login” button, by identifying theuser using cookies or the like, or in any other manner.

If recipient is registered, the procedure advances to step 210 after therecipient enters identifying information, such as a username and ID.Once again, this can be accomplished through manual entry, use of acookie, or in any other manner. If recipient is not registered, i.e. isa first time user, the procedure goes to step 220 in which recipiententers the identity of the plan sponsor, such as recipient's employer inthe case of an employer sponsored pharmacy benefits plan. FIG. 3illustrates a screen displayed on recipient client 140 for entering theplan sponsor identity. As illustrated in FIG. 3, recipient can beprompted to enter the first several letters of the sponsor's name infield 222. After entering the first several, e.g. first two, letters ofthe sponsor's name, and selecting “continue” button 224, recipient ispresented with the search results illustrated in FIG. 4 in which allplan sponsors corresponding to the entered letters that are part ofsystem 100 are displayed as hypertext links in column 226 with thecorresponding city of the plan sponsor in column 228.

Recipient then selects their plan sponsor from the list of searchresults, to determine which benefits plan the recipient is subject to,and is taken to the screen illustrated in FIG. 5 for entry of recipientpersonal information. For example, recipient can be prompted to enterthe name of the plan subscriber in field 232 (i.e., the name of theemployee or other person subscribing to the pharmacy benefits plan),pharmacy benefits plan number in field 234, recipient's name in fields236 and 238, recipient date of birth in field 242, recipients individualcoverage number in field 244, and an email address of recipient or plansubscriber in field 246. Of course, any personal information required ordesired for use of system 10 can be requested and entered. Selectingbutton 248 causes display of the screen illustrated in FIG. 6 in whichrecipient is permitted to select, or change the status of, previouslyregistered family members who can view recipient's pharmacy benefitsinformation. For example, recipient may be a child or spouse who wishesto let their parent or spouse, or other member of the family, view theirdata. Accordingly, the term “recipient” as used herein refers to theperson receiving the pharmacy benefit or the designee of that person forviewing pharmacy benefits information. Table 252 illustrates the currentpermission status of each member of recipient's family, i.e., authorizedor not authorized for viewing recipient's data. Drop down menus 254 and256 can be used to select family members and change their authorizationstatus. Accordingly, each individual recipient has control over theirown data. Preset rules regarding the legal age of consent and the likecan be incorporated into the registration process to conform to currentlocal legal standards and the like.

This completes the registration process of step 220 (FIG. 2), takesrecipient to step 210 (FIG. 2), and displays the screen illustrated inFIG. 7 on recipient client 140. The screen illustrated in FIG. 7displays a pharmacy benefits summary of recipient just registered orlogged in. The summary includes out of pocket costs 258 for theappropriate time period (such as the current calendar year) and sponsorcosts 262 assumed by the plan sponsor for recipient's pharmacy benefitsfor that same time period. This tool is the recipient's first look atthe portion of the pharmacy benefit born by the plan sponsor and in andof itself is a powerful tool for managing pharmacy benefits because itraises the consciousness of recipient. The summary data is culled fromdata available from PBM Server 120 through communication channel 128.Communication channel 128 can be an HTTP compliant channel, such as theInternet (including a dial up or other connection through an Internetservice provider) or any other type of communication channel, such as anintranet, local are network, wide are network, or the like. Inparticular as noted above, PBM server 120 includes benefit information124 relating to pharmacy benefits provided to recipients, such as thetype of drug dispensed, the identity of the pharmacy dispensing thedrug, the identity of the doctor dispensing the drug, and the like.Also, PBM server 120 includes formulary information 122. Thisinformation can be processed by management server 110 to present out ofpocket costs 258 and sponsor costs 262.

Selecting button 264 will advance the procedure to step 230 in whichpharmacy benefits are displayed for the time period in detail. Note thatrecipient can be prompted to view their own benefits or those of anotherfamily member who has authorized them to view data by selecting one of aplurality of buttons or the like. The screen illustrated in FIG. 8.provides a list of each drug dispensed to recipient (as an individual)under the pharmacy benefit plan in column 266 as well as the date ofdispensing in column 272, the recipient's out of pocket costs (such ascopayment) for that drug in column 274, and the plan sponsor costs incolumn 276. Once again, this information is culled from benefitinformation 124 stored in PBM server 120 and processed by managementserver 110 for presentation on recipient client 140. Selecting “viewdetail” in column 264 will provide information relating to thecorresponding drug in column 266, such as the drug monograph, drug todrug interactions, and other related information that is well know andcan be obtained from various sources. Pharmacy benefits from previousperiod, such as the last year can be accessed by selecting button 278.

System 100 has thus provided recipient with cost information to whichrecipient most likely never had access to before. Accordingly, recipientis more educated with respect costs of their pharmacy benefit. However,it is desirable that recipient, as a consumer, be presented with costsaving alternatives in order to close the loop in management of thepharmacy benefits provided to recipient. Accordingly, upon request byrecipient, the procedure can proceed to step 240 (FIG. 2) and the screenillustrated in FIG. 9 can be displayed on recipient client 140. Dropdown menu 282 permits recipient to select any one of the drugs dispensedto recipient for the purpose of comparing therapeutic alternatives. Aseparate drug lookup function can be provided for comparison ofalternatives to drugs not dispensed pursuant to the pharmacy benefit orotherwise not on the list provided by system 100 for the recipient. Thedesired quantity for comparison is entered in field 284, and therecipient selects button 286 to proceed to display of the screenillustrated in FIG. 10 a.

In this example, recipient has selected “ACIPHEX 20 MG TABLET EC” forcomparison with therapeutic alternatives and thus this drug ishighlighted in column 288 which lists the alternative drugs. Column 292displays the retail cost of each drug based on retail cost information112 stored in management server 110. Column 294 lists the retail out ofpocket costs for each drug for the recipient based on benefits structureinformation 132 stored in provider server 130. Column 296 lists the mailorder or other alternative distribution chain out of pocket expense foreach drug based on benefits structure information 132 stored in providerserver 130. Of course, some pharmacy benefits plans will not include analternative distribution option and, in such a case, column 296 can beleft blank or omitted entirely. Significantly, it can be seen that theout of pocket costs for “PRILOSEC 20 MG CAPSULE DR” would have beensignificantly less, i.e., ten dollars as opposed to twenty-five dollars,in this example than the actual out of pocket costs for the drug thatwas dispensed. Of course, recipient alone cannot make the determinationof which drugs to take. However, recipient can take the informationpresented in the screen of FIG. 10 a to his doctor and, if the doctoragrees it is appropriate, the doctor can write a prescription for thespecific medication indicated as most cost effective. Accordingly,recipient has been provided with the tools, i.e. the necessaryinformation, to make an informed choice of medication, along with hisdoctor, based on price, efficacy, and safety. As an example, recipientclient 140 can be a portable computer or other computer located in thedoctor's office to permit decisions to be made prior to writing aprescription.

FIG. 10 b is another example of a therapeutic alternative list generatedby the preferred embodiment and has columns similar to FIG. 10 b labeledwith like reference numerals. In this example, recipient has selected“ZESTRIL 40 MG TABLET” for comparison with therapeutic alternatives andthus this drug is highlighted in column 288 which lists the alternativedrugs. Column 292 displays the retail cost of each drug based on retailcost information 112 stored in management server 110. Column 294 liststhe retail out of pocket costs for each drug for the recipient based onbenefits structure information 132 stored in provider server 130. Column296 lists the mail order or other alternative distribution chain out ofpocket expense for each drug based on benefits structure information 132stored in provider server 130. In this example, it can be seen that theout of pocket costs for “PRINIVIL 40 MG TABLETS” would have beensignificantly less, i.e., ten dollars as opposed to twenty-five dollars,than the actual out of pocket costs for ZESTRIL. Further, the total costfor PRINIVIL is also less than that for ZESTRIL. Finally, it issignificant to note that these drugs are the same drug marketed underdifferent trade names. This illustrates the anomalies associated withthe use of formularies and multi-tier benefits structures and how theseanomalies result in increased costs without the proper analysis andmanagement. Once again, Recipient can take the information presented inthe screen of FIG. 10 b to his doctor and, if the doctor agrees it isappropriate, the doctor can write a prescription for the specificmedication indicated as most cost effective.

Recipient can at any time request to conduct a pharmacy benefits audit,i.e. to examine and verify pharmacy benefits that they have received. Agreat deal of costs are wasted because of errors in processing claims,prescriptions never picked up by recipient and the like. Previously, agreat deal of expense was incurred in attempting to recover such costsby conducting audits of a small percentage of processed pharmacybenefits claims. Of course, it is too onerous to audit all claims. Byselecting the audit provision of system 100, recipient is taken to step250 (FIG. 2) and the screen illustrated in FIG. 11 is displayed. Column292 lists the name of each drug provided pursuant to the drug benefitand includes drop down menus for verifying whether the drug of that namewas received by recipient by selection of “yes” or “no” from the menu.Column 294 lists the date each drug was dispensed by the pharmacypursuant to the drug benefit and includes drop down menus for verifyingwhether the drug was received by recipient on or about that date byselection of “yes” or “no” from the menu. Column 296 lists the quantityof each drug provided pursuant to the drug benefit and includes dropdown menus for verifying whether the quantity of the drug of that namewas received by recipient by selection of “yes” or “no” from the menu.Column 298 lists the payment, i.e. out of pocket costs, for each drugprovided pursuant to the drug benefit and includes drop down menus forverifying whether the proper payment was made by recipient. Buttons 302and 304 can be selected for submitting recipient audit responses tomanagement server 110 or skipping step 250 respectively. When submitted,recipient audit information can be utilized by the plan sponsor, caremanager, or other parties for the purpose of auditing claims processedby the PBM or other claims processor.

As indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2, the various steps of recipientmodule 112 can be accomplished in any order and can be accomplishedindependently or in combination with other steps. However, ordinarily,the registration or login steps will be conducted prior to other steps.

Plan sponsor module 116 of management server 110 can be accessed by aplan sponsor, such as an employer or other entity paying for planbenefits, via sponsor client 150 and communications channel 158.Communications channel 158 can be an HTTP compliant channel, such as theInternet (including a dial up or other connection through an Internetservice provider) or any other type of communication channel, such as anintranet, local area network, wide area network, or the like. Of course,as the entity paying for pharmacy benefits, plan sponsor has a greatinterest in controlling costs through pharmacy benefits management.However, in the case of plan sponsor being an employer, plan sponsor maynot want to view, and in fact may be legally prohibited from viewing,pharmacy benefits data for individuals. For example, knowledge of themedication taken by employees could be used to discriminate againstcertain employees or at least create the potential appearance of suchdiscrimination. Accordingly, plan sponsor module 114 of the preferredembodiment provides aggregate data that is useful to the plan sponsorbut avoids the individual data described above with respect to recipientmodule 112.

After a login and/or registration procedure that can be similar to thatdescribed above with respect to recipient module 112, and which isadequate to identify plan sponsor, plan sponsor is presented with thescreen illustrated in FIG. 12. Radio button 310 permits plan sponsor toselect a drug utilization report aggregated by drug class. Radio buttons312 permit selection of any one of a number of reports as indicated.Fields 306 and 308 permit the selection of relevant start and end datesrespectively for any reports. If plan sponsor selects radio button 310and selects button 314, utilization statistics are displayed on plansponsor client 150 as illustrated in FIG. 13. The utilization statisticsare grouped by drug classes as indicated in column 316 (as hypertextlinks). For each drug class, the statistics provide the total payment bythe pharmacy plan provider for that class in column 318, the percentageof plan payment for that class as compared to total expenditures underthe plan for pharmacy benefits in column 320, the total out of pocketpayment for recipients for that drug class in column 322 and thepercentage of out of pocket payment for that class as compared to totalrecipient out of pocket payment under the plan for pharmacy benefits incolumn 324. Of course, this information provides plan sponsor with anoverview of where the pharmacy benefit expenditures are going. Further,plan sponsor can “drill down” in each drug class to obtain additionalinformation. For example, if plan sponsor selects “selective serotoninreuptake inhibitors,” The screen illustrated in FIG. 14 is displayed onsponsor client 150.

In FIG. 14, plan sponsor can view detailed information for each drug inthe selected class as indicted in column 326. Specifically, sponsor canview the total payment by the pharmacy benefits plan for each brand nameof a drug in column 328, the percentage of plan payment for that brandname as compared to total expenditures under the plan for the class incolumn 330, the total out of pocket payment for recipients for that drugin column 332 and the percentage of out of pocket payment for that drugas compared to total recipient out of pocket payment under for the classin column 324.

Plan sponsor can enter a desired quantity of any particular drug infield 336 and select button 338 to produce sponsor therapeuticalternative report as illustrated in FIG. 15. Column 336 lists thealternative drugs as hypertext links. Column 338 displays the retailcost of each drug based on retail cost information 112 stored inmanagement server 110. Column 340 lists the out of pocket copayment foreach alternative in accordance with formulary information 122 andbenefits structure information 134. This tool permits sponsor to performcost/benefit analysis for each drug based on rebate information that isavailable from the pharmacy benefit manager such as the PBM. Forexample, as seen in FIG. 14, in this example, the largest expendituresin this class were for PROZAC™. However, PROZAC™ is the third leastexpensive drug in the class. Possibly, rebates from the benefits managerfor PROZAC™ overcome this cost differential. However, the burden can beplaced on the benefits manager to demonstrate this fact. Alternatively,rebate information could be imported into system 100 and utilized togenerate such an analysis automatically. Accordingly, plan sponsor hasthe information required to make an informed choice of benefits and canrequest a change in formulary by the pharmacy benefits manager, or otherclaims processor, with the negotiating power of the relevantinformation.

Provider module 118 provides various tools designed for the benefitsprovider, e.g. an insurance company or HMO, is illustrated in FIG. 16.Buttons 342 through 356 correspond to predetermined search criterion asindicated. The search criterion are designed to identify patients thatare at high risk for use of pharmacy benefits and thus whose care shouldbe managed most closely. Of course, the criterion can be changed toidentify any particular group of recipients. For example, if button 350is selected, the screen illustrated in FIG. 17 is displayed on managerclient 130. This screen illustrates the recipient IDs for recipientsfitting the filter in column 358, i.e recipients takinganti-hypertensives and diabetes medication.

By selecting the recipient ID, plan manager can drill down to thepharmacy benefits for that recipient, as illustrated in FIG. 18, whichprovides a list of each drug dispensed to recipient (as an individual)under the pharmacy benefit plan in column 360 as well as the date ofdispensing in column 362, the recipient's copayment for that drug incolumn 364, and the plan sponsor costs in column 366. Once again, thisinformation is culled from benefit information 124 stored in PBM server120 and processed by management server 110 for presentation on recipientclient 140. This information permits plan sponsor to police for possibleadverse drug to drug interactions, use the date filled to see if therecipient is generally complying with doctor's orders, e.g. takingmedication regularly when appropriate, monitor total costs to make surerecipients do not reach total benefit costs prematurely, and the like.Selecting “view detail” in column 368 will provide prescriber andpharmacy information as illustrated in FIG. 19 to permit detection ofthe use of plural doctors and pharmacies to obtain over doses ofspecific drugs and the like.

Consultant module 190 includes processing functionality that isspecifically helpful to consultants in analyzing and constructingpharmacy benefit pans. Consultants using consultant module 190 can becontractors hired as consultant or in-house consultants of plan sponsor,plan provider, or another party. Accordingly, no particular party'scomputer is associated with consultants in the preferred embodiment.Consultant module 190 permits consultant to select a particular pharmacybenefits plan to display drug utilization of that plan by drug class asillustrated in FIG. 20. For each drug class in column 370, thestatistics provide the total payment by the pharmacy benefits plan forthat class in column 372, the percentage of plan payment for that classas compared to total expenditures under the plan for pharmacy benefitsin column 374, the total out of pocket payment for recipients for thatdrug class in column 376, and the percentage of out of pocket paymentfor that class as compared to total recipient out of pocket paymentunder the plan for pharmacy benefits in column 378.

By selecting a drug class from column 370, model formularies and planbenefits can be compared for cost benefits using the screen illustratedin FIG. 21. Field 380 illustrates the sponsor cost, recipient cost andtotal cost for drugs in the selected drug class for the selected plan.Once again, this information is compiled from retail price information112, formulary information 124, and benefit structure information 134.Field 382 displays plan benefits model data based on behavior hypothesisinformation entered by consultant as described below. In other words,field 382 presents a “what if” scenario for the entered proposedmodifications. For example, in field 384, consultant can select anexisting plan drug and a proposed new replacement drug (therapeuticequivalent) as well as a desired percentage of migration within the planform the existing drug to the proposed drug. This will result in achange of total costs reflected in field 382. Similarly, in field 386,consultant can change the proposed levels of copayments or coinsurancepercentage and, in field 388, the consultant can change copaymentamounts of the benefits structure to see how costs are affected in field382.

It can be seen that the preferred embodiment provides powerful tools formanaging many aspects of a pharmacy benefit plan. The preferredembodiment processes information from the plan benefits structure andthe plan formulary in a novel way to provide alternative costs and otherinformation. Any type of computer architecture can be utilized inconnection with the invention. The various servers and clients of thepreferred embodiment can each comprise plural devices or can beconsolidated with one another. Accordingly, the term “computer” as usedherein refers to any device or devices capable of the disclosedprocessing and/or display functions. For example, the various serversand clients can be personal computers, mini computers, hand-held devicessuch as PDAs, thin clients, Internet appliances, or the like.

In the preferred embodiment, the communication channels are the Internetand related access links. However, the communication channels can takeany form and use any appropriate protocols. For example thecommunication channels can be cables, wireless transmitters andreceivers, optical devices. Or the like. The communication channels canbe part of an intranet, LAN, WAN, or other network. All of the disclosedcomputers can be in a single location and the communication channels canbe local busses such as serial busses, Universal serial busses, parallelbusses, or the like. The various displays and data can be modified toprovide the desired tools. The logic of the invention can beaccomplished through any programming language, through hardwireddevices, or through any other processing device. The various modules maytake any form of software and/or hardware and need not be distinct formone another. The computers and other devices can have any type of memorydevices for storing the desired information, such as magnetic harddrives, CD ROM drives, and the like. Of course, the computers can haveany appropriate display devices and data input devices and can use anyappropriate user interface. Of course, a display can be a CRT, LCD,printer, or any other device capable of presenting information. Thevarious information can be downloaded in any manner such as through adatabase query, a file transfer, or the like and thus the term“download” as used herein refers broadly to any transfer of data and canbe accomplished in real time, or in advance of when the data is needed.

The invention has been described through a preferred embodiment, howevervarious modifications can be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention as defined by the appended claims and legal equivalentsthereof.

1. A pharmacy benefits management system comprising: pharmacy benefitsmeans for receiving claim information relating to pharmacy benefitsclaims processed by a claims processing facility, said claim informationincluding identification of drugs dispensed to individual patients;management means for receiving pharmacy benefits formulary informationand price information relating to drugs in various classes; providermeans for receiving pharmacy benefits plan structure informationincluding deductible information and co-payment information storedtherein to determine a recipient's prescription benefit plan andidentify the subscriber of the prescription benefit plan; saidmanagement means further; calculates out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs,and total costs of the drugs dispensed to patients based upon thedetermined prescription benefit plan, the identified subscriber, thereceived claim information, the received formulary information, thereceived pharmacy benefits plan structure, and the received priceinformation; aggregates the out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, andtotal costs of the drugs dispensed to patients based upon at least oneof identity of drug dispensed, type of drug dispensed, formularyinformation, identity of pharmacy dispensing drug, and identity ofdoctor prescribing drug; and transmits the aggregated out-of-pocketcosts and sponsor costs to the recipient of prescription benefits. 2.The system recited in claim 1, wherein the identified drugs dispensed toa patient also indicate the date the drugs were dispensed.
 3. The systemrecited in claim 1, wherein the management means further calculatesout-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and total costs of alternativedrugs, wherein the alternative drugs are therapeutic alternatives withrespect to the drugs dispensed to patients.
 4. The system recited inclaim 3, wherein said management means further: calculates out-of-pocketcosts, sponsor costs, and total costs of the drugs dispensed to patientsand the alternative drugs in an alternative pharmacy, wherein thealternative pharmacy is an alternative distribution chain capable ofsupplying the drugs dispensed to patients and the alternative drugs; andaggregates out-of-pocket-costs, sponsor costs and total costs of thedrugs dispensed to patients and the alternative drugs based upon theidentity of the alternative distribution chain.
 5. The system recited inclaim 1, wherein the benefits plan structure information received fromthe provider means and the formulary information received from themanagement means relate to a multi-tier benefits plan.
 6. The systemrecited in claim 5, wherein the out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, andtotal costs associated with the drugs dispensed to patients and theout-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and total costs associated with thealternative drugs includes copayment information, sponsor information,and total cost information.
 7. The system recited in claim 1, whereinsaid management means further: calculates out-of-pocket costs, sponsorcosts, and total costs of the drugs dispensed to patients in analternative pharmacy, wherein the alternative pharmacy is an alternativedistribution chain capable of supplying the drugs dispensed to patients;and aggregates out-of-pocket-costs, sponsor costs and total costs of thedrugs based upon the identity of the alternative distribution chain. 8.The system recited in claim 1 further comprising means for enteringproposed changes to any of the claim information, the benefit planstructure information, and the formulary information and displayingmodel data based on the proposed changes.
 9. The system recited in claim8, wherein the proposed changes comprise any of changes to copaymentamounts, changes to copayment levels, and changes drugs dispensed. 10.The system recited in claim 1, further comprising a second pharmacybenefits means for receiving a second set of claim information, thesecond set of claim information relating to pharmacy benefits claimsprocessed by a second claims processing facility, and the second set ofclaim information including identification of drugs dispensed topatients.
 11. The system recited in claim 10, wherein said managementmeans further calculates out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and totalcosts of alternative drugs ,wherein the alternative drugs aretherapeutic alternatives with respect to the drugs dispensed topatients.
 12. The system recited in claim 11, wherein said managementmeans further calculates out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and totalcosts of the drugs dispensed to patients and the alternative drugs in analternative pharmacy, wherein the alternative pharmacy is an alternativedistribution chain capable of supplying the drugs dispensed to patientsand the alternative drugs; and said management means further aggregatesout-of-pocket-costs, sponsor costs and total costs of the drugsdispensed to patients and the alternative drugs based upon the identityof the alternative distribution chain.
 13. A pharmacy benefitsmanagement method comprising the steps of: receiving claim informationfrom a pharmacy benefits server, the claim information relating topharmacy benefits claims processed by a claims processing facility, saidclaim information including identification of drugs dispensed toindividual patients; receiving pharmacy benefits formulary informationfrom the pharmacy benefits server; receiving pharmacy benefits planstructure information from a provider server, the pharmacy benefits planstructure including deductible information and co-payment information;receiving price information from a management server, the priceinformation relating to drugs in various classes; determining arecipient's prescription benefit plan; identifying a subscriber of therecipient's prescription benefit plan; calculating, by the managementserver, out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and total costs of the drugsdispensed to patients based upon the determined prescription benefitplan, the identified subscriber, the received claim information, thereceived formulary information, the received pharmacy benefits planstructure, and the received price information; aggregating, by themanagement server, the out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and totalcosts of the drugs dispensed to patients based upon at least one ofidentity of drug dispensed, type of drug dispensed, formularyinformation, identity of pharmacy dispensing drug, and identity ofdoctor prescribing drug; and transmitting the aggregate out-of-pocketcosts and sponsor costs to the recipient of prescription benefits.
 14. Amethod as recited in claim 13, wherein the drugs dispensed to patientsin said calculating step are drugs previously dispensed to a patientindicated by the date the selected drugs were dispensed.
 15. A method asrecited in claim 13, wherein the calculating step includes calculatingout-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and total costs of alternativedrugs, wherein the alternative drugs are therapeutic alternatives withrespect to the drugs dispensed to patients.
 16. A method as recited inclaim 15, wherein the calculating step includes calculatingout-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and total costs of the drugsdispensed to patients and the alternative drugs in an alternativepharmacy, wherein the alternative pharmacy is an alternativedistribution chain capable of supplying the drugs dispensed to patientsand the alternative drugs, and the aggregating step includes aggregatingout-of-pocket-costs, sponsor costs and total costs of the drugsdispensed to patients and the alternative drugs based upon the identityof the alternative distribution chain.
 17. A method as recited in claim13, wherein the benefits plan structure information and the formularyinformation relate to a multi-tier benefits plan.
 18. A method asrecited in claim 17, wherein the out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, andtotal costs associated with the drugs dispensed to patients and theout-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and total costs associated with thealternative drugs includes copayment information, sponsor information,and total cost information.
 19. A method as recited in claim 13,wherein; the calculating step includes calculating out-of-pocket costs,sponsor costs, and total costs of the drugs dispensed to patients in analternative pharmacy, wherein the alternative pharmacy is an alternativedistribution chain capable of supplying the drugs dispensed to patients;and the aggregating step includes aggregating out-of-pocket-costs,sponsor costs and total costs of the drugs based upon the identity ofthe alternative distribution chain.
 20. A method as recited in claim 13further comprising: entering proposed changes to any of the claiminformation, the benefit plan structure information, and the formularyinformation; and displaying model data based on the proposed changes.21. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein the proposed changescomprise any of changes to copayment amounts, changes to copaymentlevels, and changes to drugs dispensed.
 22. The method recited in claim13, further comprising displaying aggregate out-of-pocket costs andsponsor costs to the sponsor of prescription benefits.
 23. The methodrecited in claim 13, further comprising receiving a second set of claiminformation from a second pharmacy benefits server, the second set ofclaim information relating to pharmacy benefits claims processed by asecond claims processing facility, and the second set of claiminformation including identification of drugs dispensed to patients. 24.The method recited in claim 23, wherein the calculating step includescalculating out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and total costs ofalternative drugs ,wherein the alternative drugs are therapeuticalternatives with respect to the drugs dispensed to patients.
 25. Themethod recited in claim 24, wherein the calculating step includescalculating out-of-pocket costs, sponsor costs, and total costs of thedrugs dispensed to patients and the alternative drugs in an alternativepharmacy, wherein the alternative pharmacy is an alternativedistribution chain capable of supplying the drugs dispensed to patientsand the alternative drugs; and the aggregating step includes aggregatingout-of-pocket-costs, sponsor costs and total costs of the drugsdispensed to patients and the alternative drugs based upon the identityof the alternative distribution chain.